Frozen Lament
by jazzmonkey
Summary: When there is a win or loss, honesty or sin, there must always be a sacrifice. *Spoilers to Chapter 334* AU


**I don't own bakugan. Warning: Mentions of swearing.**

**Frozen Lament**

The fighting stopped. Juvia's scream was loud, horrifying, and completely devoid of anything but sadness. Her lack of honorifics tipped them all off. Gray was in serious trouble.

The requip mage almost dropped Jellal as she helped him up, hearing Juvia's voice. Her thoughts immediately drifted to the worst, and she froze. She had to find wherever the water mage's wails were coming from, to help in whatever way she could. Gray had saved her time and again, and it was her turn to help him.

She looked at Jellal, who smiled back at her. Milliana stood to the side, still confused by the turn of events that had transpired before her. He stood up, "Go, Erza. Milliana and I will catch up to you as soon as we can."

Hesitant to leave them, but even more so, hurting from the lack of information, she ran. She would find them in time, and save Gray from whatever stupid he had managed himself into this time.

Lucy was still thinking, her mind caught up in the whirlwind that was her best friend, Natsu. Upon hearing Juvia's sobs, she summoned Loki by chance. There was no way she was going to try and foot it when her friend sounded so broken. "Let's go."

The dragon's fighting in midair paused, as did the slayers. Natsu's head whipped to the source of the sound, pinpointing the fearsome screech. His eyes flashed as Rogue laughed.

"So, it has begun."

"What does that mean?"

"Natsu, even if you mages don't understand your importance in your guild, it's your own loss. However, I quickly learned what each of you represents."

The salmon-haired mage's eyes narrowed. What was he going on about? They, Fairy Tail mages, stood as one.

"Erza is the strength, Lucy the mind. You, Natsu, are the heart. But, even the most brilliant, pure-hearted, willful men will fall without their soul."

Natsu's hands lit up, deep crimson in color, fury riddling the blaze. "What did you do?" his voice was fearless, a deadly tone in its core.

Rogue smirked.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

"I killed Fairy Tail's soul."

Erza and Lucy arrived almost simultaneously. They spotted Lyon and Meredy staring at red soaked ground, frozen pieces lying around the group. Lucy rushed to Juvia's side, who was sitting and sobbing next to…Gray.

If what they saw before could be called that.

His body was a mass of holes. Empty space riddled his chest and legs, chunks gone from his arms. A dead center hole next to his heart, and a blossoming crimson flower adorned his forehead. His body had fallen backwards, looking as if he had decided to go to sleep.

"J-J-Ju-Juv-Juvia closed his eyes."

Lucy's gasp tore Juvia from her trance and into the waiting Celestial mage's arms. Loki stood at the edge of the red puddle, his eyes frozen on the scene before him.

Erza gaped at what was supposed to be her best friend.

She looked over at Lucy, who was still tightly clutching Juvia, their tears falling into the other's shoulders. Lyon and Loke were both standing away from the scene, devastation plastered on their faces.

"What happened?"

The arrogant dragon slayer dodged another column on fire shot at his direction. Atlas Flame's betrayal was a shock, but he should have seen it. It seemed almost obvious.

He smiled at Natsu's rage, "Done yet?"

His enemy's chest rose once more, and he yelled, "What did you do to Gray?"

"I did nothing," Rogue smiled innocently.

Natsu always prided himself on being able to pick up acute scents, even more so than the other dragon slayers in the guild; but Gray's was gone. It had disappeared in the instant Juvia had screamed.

That bastard, always causing a scene. But, that would have wait. He would finish off Rogue, and then find the ice mage and beat it into him that he was better than dying.

Her scarlet hair brushed up against Gray's face and she leaned in to brush away some crimson flecks on his cheek. She was the one that sported the color red, not him. His alabaster skin seemed pure black in the face of the shade it was now.

Tears pooled at her own eyes, but she wiped them away before they could spill. He wouldn't have wanted to her cry, he would have blamed himself even more if he were the cause of her-their-pain. It was a foolish idea to think that her own tears would help her escape the brittle truth before her. He was dead.

Gray would have laughed at all of them. He would have told Erza to stand up, and stop crying for god's sake, and fight. Fight like she always has, and promised herself she always would. He would make her promise to fight for the guild, for him.

She growled, and her sword thunked loudly in the ground as she came to her knees next to Lyon. The ice mage looked over at her, tearing his eyes from his brother. Her own gaze was pure fire, her lips twisted in a macabre grin.

"Rogue is dead."

The scream reached everyone's ears, and almost instantaneously, every Fairy Tail mage, able to move or not, shot forward to reach Juvia. The scream didn't rattle any of them, but the name she uttered, so terrifyingly…they had to go.

As if transformed, a mass of fallen guilds rose up as one, a furious surge of magic descended upon unsuspecting dragons. The dragons burned and fell at the feet of fairies, fallen angels that danced wickedly when one of their own was in danger.

When Natsu defeated Rogue, he realized there was no sound. No cheers, no cries of happiness, no Lucy or Erza to congratulate him on a job well done. Atlas Flame landed, and Natsu ran. He ran like he never before, rushing past debris and mages picking themselves and others up to find one-any- of his friends to see what had become of the others.

His nose twitched as he neared a mass of people. Blood…

He recognized the back of Reedus' head, and almost knocked into him as he tried to stop. The older mage turned around slowly, hypnotically, to face him.

"Natsu…"

At the mention of their friend, everyone turned. He glanced at each of them, and saw tears tracks amongst marred faces. "What happened?"

Wakaba's hand was on his shoulder, "Natsu, you- you should see this for yourself."

Silently, a path formed in front of him as his guildmates pushed back to allow him space. Several forms in the center of the circle stuck out to him.

"Gildarts! What're you doing here?"

The stronger mage looked at Natsu deeply, his form hulking over the other, hiding the center of the circle from view. "Cana called me. Natsu, something's happened."

"Like what?"

"Gray's…gone."

The usually arrogant mage was quiet, and all thoughts of victory vanished from Natsu's mind. The words whirled around before clicking, and he pushed past Gildarts to see what the other four were looking at.

That couldn't possibly have been Gray.

"Natsu," Lucy cried, trying to reach for him, but her knees unwilling to allow her to rise.

The entire circle held its breath to see Natsu's reaction. The dragon slayer skid next to Erza, who was still gripping a sword rusted with red. Dragon's blood, he could tell.

"Why are all of you crying?" he asked suddenly. Natsu laughed, his chuckles ringing. "That's not Gray. It can't be! Come one, you guys, stopping joking!"

"Natsu-"

"No!" he spat, looking back to Gray, "Our guild's stupid exhibitionist wouldn't dare die on us! He loves Fairy Tail too much to leave!"

"Natsu!" Erza's voice was sharp. His fake grin fell. He could feel his own tears forming.

He knelt down next to Erza, looking at Gray's shut eyes. He looked like he was sleeping. He took in the red stained bracelet, the bare crimson chest, and the cross pendant that hung off a broken chain. "You ice bastard!" he yelled suddenly.

"You-You-You-" he tried to form words that just wouldn't rise from his lips.

"We won, droopy eyes," Natsu's voice broke. "I got Rogue." He didn't care who was listening. These assurances were for Gray. "We won."

Cana's voice was bitter and scratchy as she finally broke the haunting melody of sniffs and empty tears.

"We won because of Gray."


End file.
